T. dobrogicus

[andrew]

Hi, i have two t. dobrogicus and the male has been in breeding condition for about 4 months now. They have never breed before. The male showed tail fanning and crest waving to the female for the first couple months, but hasent since then. He still has his full crest. But the female still doesnt seem interested.

Another thing is that they spend all their time swimming against the glass like theyre trying to get out. It is just them two in a 25 gallon aquarium with about 13 inches of water with floating cork bark for them to climb out on, even though they never use it. Any explanations would be appreciated.


Thanks,
Andrew

(Message edited by andrew_taricha on April 09, 2005)

 

[david]

It depends on how you have prepared them. Many keepers like to hibernate their animals. I've had luck with just giving them a cooling period of about 50F for 2 months with a reduced light cycle. Then I slowly increased temps and the amount of light. I have one trio producing now and hopefully the other will follow. You also don't mention plants. I use anacharis or elodea. My triturus seem to prefer live plants.

 

[andrew]

I have elodea and a couple other live plants. But my real concern is why they swim against the glass so much.
Thanks,
Andrew

 

[jennifer]

Newts will swim against the glass if they associate you with food. This would be pretty obvious as "begging" behavior. If this doesn't seem to be the case, then they are unhappy about something in their setup. One possibility is that they want/need a better island. I've seen many cases where a cork bark will go unused, but if a more substantial land area is available, the newts will go for it. I'd suggest dropping the water level somewhat and putting in a solid platform of some kind.

 

[andrew]

Ok thanks, ill try that.
Andrew

 

[caleb]

Is it possible that they might be a bit warm? My dobrogicus have never tried to leave the water since I've had them.

If they do want to leave the water, it might be a good idea to give them somewhere to hide on the land area. The Greater Manchester Great Crested Newt group used a floating island made from two layers of polystyrene with a gap in between, when rearing cristatus.

 

[andrew]

The water in their tank is right at 70 F. Is that too high?

 

[caleb]

70F is 21C, I think... that's not excessively warm, but they might be happier at slightly lower temperatures- you could try 15C (60F).

If you look at the weather in part of their range (Vienna) at the moment: http://www.met-office.gov.uk/worldcity/vienna.html
air temperatures are peaking at just over 20C (70F), water temperatures are likely to be a bit lower.